Whenever I clean and re-organize my supplies (I have been at it since Sunday — and I’m not done yet), I get both frustrated and excited. Frustrated because once I’m done, I have a hard time finding all the stuff; I usually end up putting them in a different container or spot. Excited because as I go through my stash, I’m bound to come across things I’d forgotten I have — like the packs of linen textured cardstock. And the 5-inch pile of paint chips I’d collected from my trips to the paint section at Wal-mart, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s. It’s like Christmas. So what’s a girl gotta do but use ’em? And use ’em I did.

For this A2 card, I picked out a few paint chips in autumn colors and die-cut some leaves out of them. I also used my score board and bone folder to emboss the bottom part of my dark panel before adhering it to the card base. I then adhered the die-cut leaves to the upper part. I stamped my sentiment on white cardstock, trimmed it, and adhered it to designer paper. Quick and simple autumn-themed card.

All day today I’ve been itching to get to my craft table and make a birthday card. However, I needed to finish cleaning up our room and put away the things I wasn’t able to put away last Sunday when I started that cleaning and re-organizing chore. I’ve been wanting to create a card that I can enter to the Fusion Card Challenge #17. I combined the inspiration photo and the sketch, although I didn’t completely follow the sketch. I had the card already made in my head, as I wanted to use a particular Alice in Wonderland clear stamp I have and for some odd reason, the phrase “Queen for a day” was stuck in my head that I knew I had to use that in the card. So after I had put away the last of the clutter in our room, I got a chance to sit down at my craft table. Halfway through, I knew exactly why this card was just begging for me to create — today’s the birthday of one of the nicest, kindest, and craft-savvy ladies I’ve met online: Gina. So Gina, this is for you, and it may be late in the day, but it’s still your birthday — and you are Queen for today! :-)

To create this card, I embossed the card base with the quatrefoil embossing folder then lightly sponged the surface with distress ink. Next, I die-cut white cardstock using the ATC die, stamped the Alice image on it, and masked the image before stamping the newspaper background. I colored Alice with my distress markers then blended butter bar, soft apricot, and vintage photo inks all around. Since I didn’t have a stamp that spells out “Queen for a day”, I turned to Adobe Photoshop CS. I found a blank vintage banner and typed the text on that, making sure the text followed the path of the banner. I printed it on cardstock, fussy cut it, and then colored it with vintage photo distress ink and marker. I adhered the ATC and banner onto the card base using glue dots. I punched out the curly label, stamped the sentiment, distressed it in the same ink colors I used for the ATC, and then mounted it onto the card using foam dots to give the card dimension.

Here’s an A2 card I made last night for CAS(E) this Sketch #45. I must have gone through at least a dozen stamps in my stash and tried them all on scratch (unlined index cards) before I settled on this particular flower stamp. For some reason, the indoor photos I’ve been taking have been coming out not so great even after post processing them, so I had to wait this morning to take a photo of this card outside. (I’m beginning to love using our old bench table for the cards.) This one I took when I managed to get a break this morning. For months, the hubby and I have been wanting to get the hutch out of our bedroom and in storage and it’s been put off many times for one reason or another. Around 6 a.m. today, we finally set out to do what’s been needing to get done. Anyway, a couple of hours into it, I had a bit of time to snap a photo of my card.

To create this card, I used painter’s tape to mask a 9″x12″ cold-pressed 140-lb watercolor paper so I’d have a stamping area that’s 4″x5.25″. I used Memento markers and applied them onto different areas of my stamp. I spritzed a little water then stamped on one corner. Repeated it to stamp on the other corner. Then I took my Faber-Castell water brush, loaded it with water and then painted on the stamped image to drag the colors and give the image that watercolor wash look. After it’s dried, I removed the painter’s tape, cut the watercolor paper, and then mounted it on my card base. Finally, I stamped the sentiment.

To create this card, I first stamped the woodgrain background in vintage photo (a neutral color). Then I repeatedly stamped two different Christmas tree images in emerald green. I stamped another Christmas tree on cardstock, cut around it, and then used foam dots to adhere it onto the base so it pops up. Next, I stamped the sentiment in emerald green ink. Finally, I used my black soot distress marker to hand-draw the running stitch and create a border around. This is one of the quickest cards I made — took under 10 minutes to create.

This one layer card has got to be my most photographed card — meaning I had to photograph it 27 times before I got a good one. I wasn’t too happy with the first two photos I took at the usual spot in the living room after post-processing them, so I took the card out on the front porch and set it on our weather-worn bench. Ahh, success! :-)

All week, I’ve been thinking of how I was going to do a card for Less is More’s Week #136 Color Challenge. The colors are dark green and rust. Didn’t have a problem with the green since I’ve got plenty of inks in various shades of green and it would be easy to darken them. My problem was the color rust — I don’t have rust-colored ink. So yesterday, I decided I’d skip this week’s LIM challenge. But then this morning, I had a light bulb moment (well, it’s more of a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that-I-oughtta-smack-myself-silly moment). Here I was all week thinking I couldn’t do the challenge because I didn’t have the right ink when I had inks I could blend together to create a rust color — orange (spiced marmalade), red (barn door), and brown (vintage photo). Problem solved!

Edited to add: I took waaaay too long to publish this blog post that I missed LIM’s deadline! I thought I had an hour or two to spare. (I really wish InLinkz would display the deadline in terms of date and time in addition to how many hours are left.) Ahh, well…

So while the hubby and I watched an episode of McMillan & Wife on Netflix, I made this one layer card. I got to use three new supplies for this card: Heidi Swapp and The Crafters Workshop stencils, and the music background stamp — which I bought yesterday when I was in town with my mother-in-law (MIL). The hubby called it our girls’ day out. We’re practically inseparable but he didn’t go yesterday because of a severe headache he’s had all day. It was the first time in three or four years that I worked out at the gym alone. The MIL dropped me off at my gym and she drove off to hers. Hobby Lobby is a 5-minute walk from my gym so after 45 minutes, I headed over there. Anyway, long story short, I picked up a few items there and MIL and I hit several more stores (Costco, Wal-Mart, Winco, Asian store, Starbucks). We were gone for 4.5 hours or so. That night, I asked the hubby if he’d let me have a girls’ day out again. “Yeah,” he answered sleepily, holding me tight as I snuggled up to him. “But not for a while.” I guess he missed me ;-)

Thanks for reading this far! I got a bit long-winded in this post. Have a wonderful weekend and if you’re looking for something to do over the weekend, please consider taking up the holiday papercrafting challenge I have on my other blog.

By the way, I am hosting a holiday papercrafting challenge on my other blog. I’m giving away a prize package of 7 holiday clear stamp sets to the winner. The challenge runs until September 22. Any kind of papercrafting project is welcome — cards, tags, scrapbook/album covers, home decor. I would love for you to be there!